WHAT IS CAUSING GLOBAL WARMING???

What causes global warming? Global warming is the end result of man’s insatiable appetite for using up resources. There are many reasons why global warming occurs today. One of the major reasons is the consumption of too much energy. When you do not unplug the computer before going to bed, this eats up more electricity than necessary. The same thing happens when too many cars run on gas or petrol, televisions are left on while no one’s around or water is let drip from a faucet. All of these activities require energy. To produce energy, we use up fossil fuels that are dug right from the ground. Fossil fuels are produced from decaying plants and animals. When oil from fossil fuels is burned, it creates a dreadful odor that pollutes the air we breathe. Moreover the end results of used up fuels can also pollute our water. As energy is used up the chemicals emitted cause the Earth to behave similarly to a greenhouse, thus the termgreenhouse gases.

Industrialization, deforestation, and pollution have greatly increased atmospheric concentrations of water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, all greenhouse gases that help trap heat near Earth's surface. (See an interactive feature on how global warming works.) Global warming is caused due to the rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that embraces the radiated heat and stores it, increasing the overall global temperatures to dangerous levels. The rising temperatures have caused the glaciers to melt, thus causing an increase in the sea level. Unpredictable weather and a strange change in climate patterns are also some of the effects of global warming. In fact, according to a recent study, over the past three decades our planet is said to be shrinking at a faster rate than usual. Extreme climatic conditions like drought in some parts of the world while heavy rains in some others and record heat waves in most of the parts have sent an alarming message to stop global warming. It is not that we are not trying to curb global warming; the governments of various countries and the UN (United Nations) have already started with their efforts to address the problem of global warming. They are doing their bit, and it's time for us to address this sensitive problem on a personal level.

• Some experts point out that natural cycles in Earth's orbit can alter the planet's exposure to sunlight, which may explain the current trend. Earth has indeed experienced warming and cooling cycles roughly every hundred thousand years due to these orbital shifts, but such changes have occurred over the span of several centuries. Today's changes have taken place over the past hundred years or less.

• Other recent research has suggested that the effects of variations in the sun's output are "negligible" as a factor in warming, but other, more complicated solar mechanisms could possibly play a role.

Humans Isn't Responsible

Fact: Worldwide, climate scientists are united in agreement that the current rise in greenhouse gases and global temperatures are directly correlated to human-related causes.

The evidence is frightfully clear about the fact that global temperatures are rising. There is no longer any real, scientific global warming debate. The vast majority of climate scientists- the people intimately studying atmospheric changes who are experts in their fields agree that global warming has increased significantly since the Industrial Revolution. It is important for you to understand that those changes correspond with increased burning of fossil fuels and other human activities.

Don’t let the hype fool you. Skeptics are often spokespeople or “scientists” hired by industries that have a stake in new emission-cutting regulations or changes in consumer buying patterns that would curb global warming.A Natural Cycle

Fact: While climate change does follow a natural cycle of fluctuation in global and regional temperatures over time, we are experiencing a major increase in the rate at which climate change is occurring that does not fall within the normal boundaries of the earth’s global climate cycles.

The current change is so unnatural that scientists are sounding alarm bells. Scientists predict that the average global temperature will increase anywhere from 2.5 to 10.4 degrees F in the 21st century alone. You might think this is a small fluctuation on a regional scale, but on a global scale it is devastating. The last Ice Age was only 5-9 degrees colder than today’s temperatures.

Factory Air Pollution:

Scientists have researched that 30% of global warming is caused by the air pollution of factories. The air has been getting warmer ever since 1788, when the first mini factories started to unleash carbon dioxide and co2. There are still many other reasons that are going to be described.

EXON VALDEZ OIL SPILL:

On March 23, 1989, at 9:12 pm the Exxon Valdez oil tanker left the Alyeska Pipeline to cross Prince William Sound carrying approximately 53 million gallons of crude oil. The tanker was headed for Long Beach, California. Three hours later, just after midnight on March 24th, the Exxon Valdez ran into Bligh Reef, spilling 10.8 million gallons of oil into the sound.

The spill caused over $300 million of economic harm to more than 32 thousand people whose livelihoods depended on commercial fishing.

Tourism spending decreased by eight percent in south central Alaska and by 35 percent in southwest Alaska in the year after the spill.

There was a loss of 9,400 visitors and $5.5 million in state spending.

Many fish populations were harmed during the spill. For example, sand lance populations went down in 1989 and 1990, herring returns were significantly fewer in 1992 and 1994 and adult fish had high rates of viral infections.

Pink salmon embryos continued to be harmed and killed by oil that remained on stones and gravel of stream banks through at least 1993. As a result, the southwestern part of Prince William Sound lost 1.9 million or 28 percent of its potential stock of wild pink salmon. By 1992, this part of the sound still had 6 percent less of the wild pink salmon stock than was estimated to have existed if the spill had not occurred.

Two years following the Exxon Valdez spill, the economic losses to recreational fishing were estimated to be $31 million.

Twelve years after the spill, oil could still be found on half of the 91 randomly selected beaches surveyed.

Three species of cormorant, the common loon, the harbor seal, the harlequin duck, the pacific herring and the pigeon guillemot still have not fully recovered.